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A Proactive Approach to Advance Funeral Planning

Christopher Kuhnen's blog

“No Thanks…I’m Just Not In-terested.”

Posted by Christopher Kuhnen on April 1, 2015

What pre-need sales agent hasn’t heard these words come flowing out of their sales prospect’s mouth at one time or another? It doesn’t matter if you are on the telephone trying to arrange a sales appointment, or just about to make your closing statement; when they say they’re not interested, your heart sinks a little bit, doesn’t it?   Whenever anyone says they’re not interested, it usually means only one of two things: they’re not yet ready to face their own mortality, or you haven’t given them a good reason why they should be interested.   Every time you’re in a face-to-face sales meeting, one of the first things you need to ascertain is why are we here today?   Not many people wake up in the morning and decide it’s a great day to plan their funeral ahead of time. There is almost always an underlying precipitating cause. What moved them to meet with you to investigate the ins and outs of funeral pre-planning? Is someone close to them critically ill? Has Medicaid eligibility become a factor? Have they just experienced a life changing event? You need to know why they’re there and how comfortable they are with the topic of their own passing and/or the passing of the close loved one they are there to speak with you about.   Read their body language. Are they telling you they’re comfortable with their mouth, yet they’re squirming in their seat and not making eye contact? When you offer to show them the caskets do they reply, “Oh, that’s alright, we don’t need to see them today.” If anyone is not honestly ready to discuss matters of “death and dying” they will only take the “funeral pre-planning” conversation so far, until it becomes too uncomfortable. It is at this point they will quickly shut it down, tune out and begin to make their way towards the door. You’ll wonder if it was something you said. In reality it wasn’t you at all. They were simply not yet ready. Save yourself time and energy. Learn to uncover this at the beginning of any meeting you have.   If they tell you “No thanks…I’m just not interested” because you haven’t given them a good reason why they should be interested, shame on you! This usually means that you missed and/or glossed over a crucial part of your sales presentation. Maybe you never fully understood what the prospect’s reasons were. Every prospect has at least one reason why they want to pre-arrange. If you uncover that reason, and help them accomplish it within the financial means they have available, you should consummate the agreement.   Did you forget to explain something? Was something you explained not clear to the prospect? Did they not understand the importance of what you were explaining? It doesn’t matter how clearly you think you explain things to people. What matters is, if people understand and comprehend what you are explaining. You can memorize all the meticulous words in your sales presentation script and deliver it flawlessly. If the person you are speaking to doesn’t comprehend it properly, what have you gained? Nothing!   Everyone you meet is a sales prospect. Everyone is interested in funerals. Tell people you work at a funeral home and just watch their facial expression. They all have an immediate reaction. Some are shocked. Some are fascinated. All are curious. They all have questions to ask or comments<a name="_GoBack"></a> they want to share. People can’t help themselves. The subject of funerals naturally gets most people talking. We just need to follow the discussion.

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A Proactive Approach to Advance Funeral Planning

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